In the most unpredictable election in presidential history, Donald Trump defeated heavily favored Hillary Clinton by a narrow margin by winning several rust belt states and Florida.
However, in the Bronx results were as predictable as could be expected. Trump earned 34, 424 votes, roughly 10 percent of the vote in the Bronx, far behind the 318,403 votes garnered by fellow New York state resident Hillary Clinton.
The Former New York Senator and Secretary of state got 88 percent o the Bronx vote, with Jill Stein getting just over 1 percent and Libertarian Gary Johnson getting 0.58 percent of the vote. Blank, void and write-in ballots made up less than 1 percent of votes cast, according to the state board of elections.
In local contests, Democrats swept races in the U.S. House of Representatives and N.Y. State Senate and Assembly.
Assembly speaker Carl Heastie ran uncontested in the 83rd Assembly District, and touted the 11 new seats in the Democratic majority in the lower house in a statement released Wednesday.
“I am proud that we have been able to grow our majority to 107 members and our conference remains the most diverse legislative body in the country, including 41 women,” Heastie stated.
At the Federal level, all eyes were on Senator Adriano Espaillat, who becomes the first Dominican American and the first formerly undocumented citizen to serve in Congress.
Espaillat got just under 89 percent of the vote in a four-way race with Republican Tony Evans, Green Daniel Vila Rivera and independent candidate Scott Ferstenmaker with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
“I am excited to partner with communities from Harlem to the Bronx, from El Barrio to Inwood, to create lasting progress on the issues that face all of us from affordable housing to helping our small businesses,” said Espaillat. “I am deeply grateful to the people of the 13th Congressional District for electing me to serve as their next Congressman and I look forward to meeting with my constituents in the Bronx from my Bronx office starting on day one of my term.”
Marisol Alcantara, a fellow Democrat, won the race for Espaillat’s former seat with over 90 percent of the vote.
Also successful in his House bid was Joe Crowley, who was re-elected with 82 percent of the vote over Republican Frank Spotorno.
Crowley said he was proud of his record of supporting job creation, expanding middle class opportunities, protecting veterans’ hard-earned benefits, keeping Medicare and Social Security strong, and working to make the Bronx-Queens community more prosperous and secure.
“In the next Congress I will continue to work for good paying jobs, affordable child care, comprehensive immigration reform, college affordability, and the opportunity for every American to retire with peace and mind after a lifetime of work,” stated Crowley in a press release Wednesday. “And whether it is working to address airplane noise, improving our schools, or keeping our communities safe, I will never stop fighting for the people of Queens and the Bronx.”
Jamaal Bailey, who represents the Bronx and part of Mount Vernon, won the only open seat in the 36th State Senate district.
A first-time candidate, Bailey defeated Conservative Robert Diamond by taking 84 percent of the vote.
Bailey captured 64,012 of the 81,085 votes cast in the district.
Bailey is replacing Ruth Hassell-Thompson, who resigned the seat last July to join the Cuomo administration.
Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr. won the lone Bronx council race.
Salamanca won his first full-term election in the 17th District after winning a special election in February over several candidates.
United States Senator Charles Schumer got just under 4.7 million votes statewide to handily defeat Republican newcomer Wendy Long, who got 1.8 million votes.
